The Bow of Theseus
Archers often find themselves confronting one of philosophy's older questions without ever realising it. Philosophers call it "The Ship of Theseus". Most British readers of a certain age know it as "Trigger's broom". The...
Author: Glasgow Archers
Sessions out – Rounds one to five
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we had bid for and been successful in getting a grant of just over £5,000 from the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games Festival. Since then we’ve had to start...
Hot Fix: That's Rough
When you shoot a bow, you only touch it in two places: Your hook on the string, and the handle on the riser. We’ve talked about grips before — whole articles, diagrams, the usual...
What Happens After the Beginners Course?
Congratulations — you’ve survived the beginners course. You’ve got your certificate, you know etiquette, you can now chant the safety rules like they were handed down on stone tablets by a very tired Moses....
What's the Difference between 50m and 70m?
(Or: “Why does the target suddenly shrink like it’s been left in a hot wash?”) Five points if you said 20 metres. Minus ten if you said it smugly. And if you’re the sort...
What Happens to Your Arrows After You Shoot Them?
Archers spend an extraordinary amount of time thinking about the front end of the shot. The kit, the form, the checklist, the ritual, the “don’t pluck, don’t collapse, don’t sneeze” internal monologue. We obsess...
An Archery Star is Born
One entire Sunday morning recently we had a film crew with us from the Commonwealth Games. They found Finlay to have presence, star quality and charisma ... at least his beard did. Finlay not...
Parallel vs Barrelled Shafts
We do our best to be a practical guide for archers, beginners, and anyone who’s ever watched an arrow do something it definitely wasn’t supposed to. However, sometimes a subject, even though significant, isn't...
GA at the Commonwealth Games
As you are no doubt aware, Glasgow is hosting the Commonwealth Games this summer. It is a truncated version, featuring only 10 sports, one of which is not archery. So we thought - why...
We need to talk about … the Glasgow League
Hope I’ve given it long enough to talk about this now, but for anyone still traumatised by the outcome of this year’s Glasgow League, look away now … GA takes part in the Glasgow...
Funeral Service for X10 #5
As Conducted by the Glasgow Archers Congregation of Mild Chaos Order of Service Opening Remarks Reading from the Book of Easton The Life and Death of X10 #5 Reflections from the Shooting Line Hymn:...
Why Arrow Speed makes 70m feel like Witchcraft
At some point in every recurve archer’s life, usually around the moment they first try 70 metres, they discover that their sight mark has opinions. Strong ones. One week it sits politely in the...
The Ultimate Archer's Shelter? Meet the Klumpen
It's April. You're standing in a field somewhere in central Scotland. The wind is doing that particular Scottish thing where it can't decide if it wants to come from the north or the east,...
When your Bow Decides it’s had Enough
Archery kit is, in theory, pretty resilient. It has to be, given we insist on bending it, unbending it, and rattling it 200 times a night like it owes us money. Every shot loads...
Gossip behind the Tent Line: The Cost of Missing
A few weeks ago we had an article on the big indoor competition - Las Vegas 2026. We noted the fact that last year there was, over the weekend, $30,000 dollars of damage done...
72" Bows: Because some Archers are built different
The modern recurve bow is a miracle of configuration options. You can bolt so many accessories onto a riser that it starts to resemble a cyberpunk coat rack. Sights, buttons, rests, stabilisers, dampers, clickers,...
Music to Shoot by
Within the universal set, archery intersects with so many things. Archery and dedication. Archery and health. Archery and banter. Archery and obsessive compulsion .. the intersections are endless. But one intersection you never see...
All a Bit Mental?
Apparently today, Monday 30 March, is World Bipolar Day. I’m not someone who usually bothers with the plethora of ‘Days’ that there are for this or that, but as I’m an archer and someone...
Road to Merlin
With the recent opening of Merlin in Glenrothes, Scotland now has access to a major archery supplier on its doorstep. Until now, our closest store was Merlin in Bishops Auckland which meant a 332...
Summer Season 2026
Looking outside at some of the weather we're currently suffering, its hard to believe we're just TWO WEEKS away from going outside for the "Summer" season. As of April, the outdoors of Whitecraigs beckons...
